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Date Posted: 17:58:06 02/27/02 Wed
Author: Cecil Argetsinger
Subject: What is Grace

“ What is Grace”
By Cecil Argetsinger

In the English language grace is a word with a wide variety of meanings. It might mean beauty of form or movement, as graceful. It can refer to an attractive quality in persons, like kindness. A period of time in which payments or judgments are withheld is called a grace period. In religious circles it could mean a spiritual gift.

What we want, however, is to discover what the word means in Scripture, And there dictionary definitions will not always do. God has to take ordinary words and invest them with extraordinary meanings in order to reveal heavenly and spiritual truths. We must note how He uses a particular word in the Bible to discover its real meaning. When that is done grace is seen to be the infinite love of God, set free by the death of Christ, manifesting itself in the bestowal of measureless blessings on the believer in Christ. It indicates not only His kindness and goodness but reveals the very heart of God. It speaks of that which moved Him to save the lost.

“Without A Cause”

Romans 3:23, declares that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” However, Romans 3:24, goes on to declare that these same sinners are “justified (made righteous) freely by His grace.” In this passage the word freely is from the Greek word dorean. Dorean also occurs in John 15:25, where Christ, speaking of His soon coming death and quoting from Psalm 35:19, said that His enemies “hated Me without a cause.”

How true was that which He spoke. There was no reason or cause in Christ that those Jews should hate Him. He was no sinner, He had broken no law, He had harmed no one, rather it was written of Him that He “…went about doing good” and that”…God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). There was nothing in Christ, no cause in Him for their hatred, it had to arise from within themselves. It is what they were, the hardness of their own hears, that caused them to crucify Him. They were thus giving expression to their own wickedness and unbelief. They hated Him “without a cause.”

That phrase, without a cause, is also a translation of dorean. If instead of freely we would substitute without a cause (and we have every right to do so), Romans 3:24 would then read “Being justified without a cause by His grace.”

How clearly those words express the truth. We have indeed been justified without a cause. Just as those Jews could find nothing in Christ to hate for there was no fault in Him (Luke 23:4), even so God h as found no cause in us as to why we should be redeemed. There was no good in us, no worth, no merit, only sinfulness (Rom. 3:9-18). Not what we are but what He is, a God of love and grace, moved Him to provide “so great salvation,” we deserved nothing but condemnation and judgment, but His own heart of love found a way in which His justice could be satisfied and His love set free to save us from sin. His grace has saved us without a cause.

Expects No Return

An excellent illustration of the meaning of grace is provided in Luke 6:32,33&34. In each of these three verses we find the word thank. Thank is a translation of the Greek karis from which we get our English grace. Let us examine those three verses.

In verse 32 we read, “For, if ye love them which love you, what thank (karis-grace) have ye? for sinners also love those that love them” There is no grace in loving someone who loves you, or from whom you hope to receive love in return. Grace loves without a cause. Grace does not consider whether or not love will be answered in kind; grace loves because that is what grace is.

In the next verse (33) we read, “And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank (karis-grace) have ye? for sinners also do even the same.” Again the same truth is present, that grace operates without a cause. Grace does not do good to someone expecting good in return. Grace does not say, “I will be good to you if you will be good to me.” Grace does not consider the results or the returns. Grace expresses that which is worthwhile in the character of the one who gives, not the worth or merit in the one who receives.

The last verse (34) states, “And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank (karis-grace) have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again,” Now it may be good business to lend expecting to be paid back, but this is not grace. Grace lends and grace gives because it wants to give, not because of any expected return. Grace gives whether is appreciated or not. Grace gives in spite of who or what the receiver is, not because of who he is. Grace is free, without a cause. Grace is God’s love expressing itself in immeasurable benefits to the believer in Christ.

In the light of all this, how plainly can it be seen that salvation is all of God. It is not because of any supposed merit or goodness in us that we have been justified and brought into fellowship with God. Neither is it because God could foresee that we would come to Him if we were but given the opportunity. It is not that He expects us to pay Him back. We have been saved because what is in God, not because of any good in us. Grace does not lend trusting to be repaid again. Grace does not do good hoping to receive in kind. Grace does not love looking to be loved in return Grace gives and grace blesses and grace loves simply because that is the nature of grace. It operates without a cause.

The Nature of God

The word grace, however, as it is used in the New Testament, goes far beyond a simple definition of the term. There it expresses and portrays a character of God never before seen. It describes a motivation, an urge in the heart of God, a desire to save and to bless and bestow. there is something in God that finds its expression and fulfillment in the free bestowal of blessings. Grace operates without a cause, despite lack of worth or goodness in the receiver; grace is something in God which moves Him to bless the undeserving believer. And that grace will bless, and bestow, and bless again, never ceasing, never resting until the believer is at home in glory, with and like His Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor will it end there but, wonder of wonders, will continue throughout all eternity to move Him in our behalf. It is His stated intention “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7).

A Warning

A word of caution needs to be added. To teach that God is motivated by His grace in the redemption of lost sinners is not to teach that all will be saved. God, it is true, has provided a salvation that is being offered to all, but it is applied only to “them that believe.” Grace is bestowed on undeserving sinners, not on unbelieving sinners.

Neither is it true that the teachings of grace encourage loose living. Rather, grace prohibits carelessness in the Christian’s walk. “What then?” says the Apostle, “shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid!” (Rom. 6:15). No statement regarding this truth can be clearer than the words of Titus 2:11-12. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared …Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and Godly, in this present world.”

May”…The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus… make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 5:10-11).

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